One of the biggest obstacles bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is penetration among long-term investors. For myriad reasons, ownership of digital currencies is nowhere close to ownership of stocks and bonds, particularly among long-term investors.
Recent data indicate bitcoin ownership is increasingly evenly split among short-term speculators and market participants willing to hold the largest digital currency for long periods of time.
“Since December 2017, the amount of Bitcoin held by day traders has risen to 5.1 mln BTC, almost equaling the amount held by long-term investors — those who have held the coins for more than a year — which equals about 6 mln BTC, in what has been called Bitcoin’s ‘liquidity event,’” reports CoinTelegraph.
The all-time high for bitcoin is around $20,000, which was seen in December 2017. In recent weeks, there have been plenty of calls for the cryptocurrency to return to those record highs and beyond. Still, bitcoin has some technical issues to deal with. A move below $7,000 could send bitcoin to $5,000. Bitcoin was trading around $6,744 on Monday.
Where’s The Interest?
Last week, several media reports highlighted dropping Internet searches for bitcoin and other cryptocurrency terms. Those declines correspond with price declines as do volumes across some major crypto exchanges. Another issue is that a significant chunk of bitcoin is owned by a small number of investors.